 The Biden administration has its own priorities and vision, domestically and with respect to our defense posture. A 2022 budget that may reach nearly $5 trillion dollars has many social programs but an unexceptional defense budget -- and it lacks a coherent strategy or focus for dealing with the persistent and growing challenges from China. Pictured: President Joe Biden talks to Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (2nd L) after signing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act on November 15, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) |
Which is more urgent?: Does the US need a nearly $5 trillion budget for an immediate deterrence to China's biowarfare and military buildup, or for climate change and green programs? And are those climate change and green programs largely paybacks to campaign donors and to China?
The Communist Chinese are redrawing the maps of the world, from the South China Sea to the Panama Canal to Equatorial Guinea. They are advancing technologically and practically through a coordinated military, scientific and economic strategy that seeks to outstrip the United States completely within a decade.
The Biden administration has its own priorities and vision, domestically and with respect to our defense posture. A 2022 budget that may reach nearly $5 trillion dollars has many social programs but an unexceptional defense budget -- and it lacks a coherent strategy or focus for dealing with the persistent and growing challenges from China.
The House of Representatives recently passed a $778 billion defense spending bill -- $25 billion more than President Biden requested. The summary of the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) mentions "China" seven times. Here is what the NDAA requires when it comes to China:
- The Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering conduct an analysis comparing the research and development efforts of the United States and China on certain critical, militarily-relevant technologies.
- Extends and modifies an annual required report on military and security developments involving China.
- Requires the Secretary of Defense to provide to Congress a report on the feasibility and advisability of establishing improved military-to-military communications with China for crisis situations.
- Requires the President to establish a grand strategy with respect to China.
- Prohibits the Secretary of Defense from procuring personal protective equipment manufactured in China, Russia, North Korea or Iran.
- Requires the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency to provide to the congressional defense and intelligence committees an annual briefing on the electronic warfare threats posed to the US military from the Russian Federation, the People's Republic of China and other relevant nations.
All of these requirements seem "a day late and a dollar short." It seems to be a list from 1985.
There is nothing specifically targeting and countering the Chinese biowarfare threat and resultant global pandemic that has seized the world for nearly two years. Nothing. Instead, there is specific reference to military crisis communications -- the sort Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley clearly exercised on October 20, 2020 when he told the Chinese military chief: "General Li, you and I have known each other for now five years. If we're going to attack, I'm going to call you ahead of time. It's not going to be a surprise." General Milley has yet to be indicted.
President Biden's budget priorities are confused, and they ignore record-setting inflation. Biden states that a multi-trillion dollar budget has "zero cost," but the American public is not buying it. We are experiencing the highest rate of inflation in 39 years. Americans are keenly aware of the steep increase in prices across all sectors of the economy, to the point where a whopping 93% are very worried about inflation. While Americans watch their hard-earned dollars diminish in value, the Biden administration advances an "American Rescue Plan" and promises to "build back better," but at the cost of nearly $5 trillion according to "scoring" by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
The Biden budget proposes $10 billion to "environmental justice" programs at colleges and universities. Studying the environment is one thing, adding a "justice" component is merely a code-word for Marxist social policies. Likewise, the Environmental Protection Agency has a new $5 billion dollar "environmental and climate justice fund" with nebulous goals that are ripe for activist bureaucrats to subjectively pick their politically favored winners (and losers).
There are other examples of outrageous programs and wild spending " on everything from "desert fish" to Critical Race Theory indoctrination programs across all departments and levels of government.
Meanwhile, China surges ahead with military and technical advances -- at a pace that has caught the US government by surprise. China's hypersonic missile test in October 2021 seems to have caught the Pentagon flat-footed. Hypersonic missiles travel at around 3,800 mph and higher, and are ideal for evading traditional missile detection and defense systems. China is also ready to launch its first "blue water" aircraft carrier -- giving it the ability to project air and sea power around the globe.
Just recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that China is seeking its first military base on the Atlantic Ocean. That is a stunning, hemispheric, geopolitical event. There is little or no public discussion or demand for accountability as to how the United States can find itself so outmaneuvered and blindsided.
The Biden administration is spending American taxpayers' dollars recklessly on "tree equity" programs and driving inflation to record levels, while it simultaneously claims that "it may never know" where the Wuhan virus came from.
If it were not so terribly dangerous, one might believe this scenario is a spoof or political satire of comically foolish negligence – but it is not. Reading Douglas MacArthur: American Warrior, one is reminded of how FDR grossly ignored the looming threat from Japan and how Biden ignores China's aggression today. Let us all hope that is where history stops repeating itself.
Chris Farrell is Director of Investigations at Judicial Watch and Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
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